Monday, 30 August 2010

I wanted something fun for the bank holiday weekend so I did this Saturday...

This is 2 coats of each polish - Nails Inc, Oxford Circus and China Glaze, Re-fresh Mint. The pink was a PITA to apply - very streaky and hard to work with, but I guess it's just what you have to live with when using pastels. Then I put 2 coats of Orly's Prisma Gloss in gold over the top to make it sparkly. I love this top coat. You have to really shake it to spread the glitter out as it all sinks to the bottom of the bottle, but it's so worth it. The sparkles are quite fine and because they're holo they catch the light perfectly.

I didn't realise how long I've let my nails get until I saw this photo. They are all nicely filed down now and my little stump is doing well :)

Friday, 27 August 2010

Hello! Today I have for you a little polish I brought from Tesco's! It is a Barabara Daly one and is called Glamour.

with flash to show the shimmer

This is a great vampy purple and in the sun you can see a really vivid violet shot through it. This is 2 coats. The brush isn't that great as it's a bit narrow. The polish is actually a bit on the thick side - but I have had this knocking around for probably 2 years now so I can't really judge on that. Oh my poor nail :(

It is still a lovely colour though and I don't have a purple as dark as this in my collection.

Do you have any of the Barbara Daly polishes and what do you think of them?

Now a couple of weeks ago the lovely KarenD from Frazzle and Aniploish tagged me with an award and I have finally got round to doing it! Thank you Karen for tagging me :) :)

The rules:1. Post who gave you this award2. State 10 things you like3. Give this award to 10 other bloggers and notify them with a comment

Thursday, 26 August 2010

I'm so sorry I haven't been blogging much. It is raining soo much at the moment so there's zero natural light and I hate my pics in unnatural lighting. Oh well...I had to do it - hopefully you won't find it too terrible!

This is 3 coats of the very pretty Fashion Addict. This was on of Color Club's Catwalk Queen collection. It is a light silvery holo lilac. It is really stunning and unfortunately I couldn't show off just how holo it really is :( I will wear this again when the sun FINALLY comes back!! The formula was pretty good. I had a couple of bald spots with the first coat, but after the 2nd it was fine - I did the 3rd to doubley make sure it was opaque.

This polish was a really bad omen for me! On the first day of wearing it I managed to chip my thumb corner, make my index nail all jaggedy and of course the catastrophe that you can see in the picture. My nail ripped like half way down (maybe that's an exaggeration!) and I just couldn't bring myself to tear it all the way off. However, today I felt I could no longer live with this bright blue plaster on, so I removed it and then quickly tore the poor hanging tip off :( I'm quite depressed, but have noticed that my nails are growing really quickly at the moment, so it shouldn't be too traumatic.

I will post pics tomorrow of my new mani and this little odd nail - poor thing.

Monday, 23 August 2010

Hi everyone. Today I went for one of my untrieds - Essie's Downtown Brown. Above is 3(!!) coats and I still have bald and streaky patches. I think it probably could do with another 2 to even it all out however, it is a yummy red-toned brown colour though. I think this is an old Essie as even with a quick dry top coat it took ages to dry completely. Overall, it's a nice colour, but not unique and you can definately get something closer with a much better formula. My recommendation would be to go for something like the Ciate I posted a couple of months ago here.

Sorry for being a bit quiet this weekend, something happened within my family that was a bit out of the blue and kinda disrupted things.

Friday, 20 August 2010

This is 2 coats of sparkly jelly goodness. Sooo amazing! I could have done with another coat because as you can see it is a bit light around the edges. The formula is pretty good, I had to be careful with cuticle drag, but this could just be me.

I'm afraid my picture doesn't do this polish justice, but you've seen other swatches.

Now I have a question, I was lusting after Eyeko's Vampira Polish for a while - do you think this is close to that?

Also, when I was on Eyeko's website I decided to become an ambassador! So if any of you have any orders enter code E10650 where it says ambassador code and you receive a free gift!! How cool is that? And if you spend over £10 then you can qualify for their free polish of the week - and delivery is free in the UK!!!

Thursday, 19 August 2010

So it turns out I didn't make myself clear enough when I launched the giveaway - I meant that it was only open to my existing 50 followers, but as I had quite a few new followers enter (and when I re-read the original post, realised I wasn't that clear about the first 50 followers thing) I thought it only fair to enter all of you.

But, I gave my first guys an extra entry. Random.org gave me....

If you don't get how this meant Ria won, then email me and I will happily explain - i just don't want to babble on about it on here and bore everyone to death!

So there it is, my first giveaway is over and thanks you guys for all the great suggestions of polish. I'm going to investigate tomorrow night and update my need list soon :)

Wednesday, 18 August 2010

I was watching Leighton Denny on QVC last night (we had it recorded on the v box) and he showed a gorgeous hot pink polish with a blue flash and I thought..."ooo, I have something similar to that". So off I trotted to my stash and grabbed this little girl.

And I had my worst haul ever today. At the weekend I emailed Head2Toe Beauty to find out when they were putting the Cosmic FX collection online and I had a reply today saying that they are on there now!! I only bought the whole collection and a back-up bottle of Space Cadet! And a couple of other colours while I was at it for my next giveaway. Spent almost $50 and am now wating for the shipping bill to come through. Uh-oh! I will probably go on a no-spend for the rest of August and September! Dear oh dear. But on the other hand, I am SOOOOO excited. They are normally pretty quick at delivering considering they come from America, so I might get them next week or beginning of the week after.

Are there any other girlies out there waiting for their delivery for Cosmic FX?

Tuesday, 17 August 2010

This is 2 coats with base and top. It is a light chocolatey/dark taupe foil with silver micro glitter. From other swatches I've seen I was expecting to be blown away, but unfortunately it turned out to be nothing special - maybe it's just my skin tone because it looks gorgeous on other people! Now, don't get me wrong I don't dislike it, I was just expecting more...

The application was perfect, no streaks and dry time was good too.

Does anyone else have this polish? I'd be interested to hear your opinions on it.

Sunday, 15 August 2010

Today I have a lovely polish that I won in nailpolishUK's giveaway the other month.

It is Misa - Runway Diva...This is 2 coats. It is a really pretty dusty medium pink. This reminds me of the Eyeko Tea Rose Polish, and I do actually feel all refined in it and would love to drink a cup of tea out of a teacup like this while sticking my pinky finger in the air...

Saturday, 14 August 2010

As I told you on Thursday I received my very first BB Couture polishes, so here they are...

l-r Napa Valley Red, Sea of Cortez and Union Square

I can't believe I waited so long to order these! I ordered them from the lovely Kim at Overall Beauty. I love BB's range - their colours are so unique and beautiful and I think for my first 3 I picked some real good'uns. These cost me £25 including postage, and paying through Paypal meant I was charged just under £2 for the privilege of buying something in dollars!

I've already worn Napa Valley Red (forgot to take pictures but will definately be wearing again soon) and although it's kinda sad, I am planning on wearing Sea of Cortez when I go on holiday in September - obviously I will be taking another polish, but this one I want to travel in! Lol.

I also picked up this Models Own the other day - Green Flash. I've not tried it out yet but will obviously post pics when I do.

For my mani today I took (alot) of inspiration from Shiny Little Nails - I hope she doesn't mind, but I bought some nail guides the other week and really wanted to try them out.

I did the tips with Essie Peach Daiquri - 2 coats - and I don't have a dotting tool, so I used the pin of an earring to do the dots on the pinky. I'm really not digging the dots too much because they look a bit messy, but think I will invest in a dotting tool.

I also found using the guides a bit tricky but I think with practice they will be quite good.

Do you have any BB's? If so which ones do recommend that aren't already on my wishlist?

Thursday, 12 August 2010

The first picture is in the sunlight and the second is in shade.This is 2 coats of Dulce de Leche with top and base coat. A perfect pink-toned nude. There's not really much to say about this, except that I really, really like it. It's so clean looking and I feel well-groomed when I'm wearing it! I got this off ebay a while ago for about £4 so it was a nice little bargain too!

I got some BB's in the post yesterday :) :) :) :) :) They are AMAZING! I will be showing you pics soon!

Sunday, 8 August 2010

Firstly, I want to say a huge thank you to my 50 followers :) I love you so much. I honestly didn't think my blog would be that much of a success and was quite reluctant to start it. I'm so happy I did though, you are all such lovely girls and I love that I am part of this network!To celebrate I am haivng a small giveaway...

I know it's not too much and I didn't properly prepare for this, it's just a spur-of-the-moment thing. Maybe if I reach another significant milestone it will be a lot bigger and will include some more expensive stuff.

All of the polishes have been used once, except the Sally Hansen's which have just been used on like one nail - they are really pretty, I just never got round to using them properly! The stickers and file are new :)

I have a little rule for this giveaway. I love my followers and I don't really want to encourage people to become a follower for the sake of entering the giveaway when they don't actually read my blog. So...

The rules:

1) You must already be a follower through Google Friend Connect to enter. This might seem harsh and I'm really sorry, but this is a Thank You to my existing followers.

2) To enter, just leave a comment on this post telling me your email addy and your favourite polish of all time (totally selfish - I want to expand my wishlist and know you lot have good taste!) .

3) The last date for entry is Wednesday 18th at midnight GMT.

4) I will choose the winner using a random number generator and will let the lucky person know by email on Thursday 19th. If I don't hear anything back by the evening of Sunday 22nd I will pick another number - so remember to check your email or tell me if you will be away!

5) This is open to international followers.

I think that's everything, if I have left anything out let me know. This is my first giveaway, so chances are that I probably have!

Something sad happened today, I have had to send my nails to rehab. Their problem was stained tips and peeliness :( It's a sad time but I'm sure they will get through it and be back to normal again in a couple of weeks.

I have something nice and summery today after yesterday's grungy look.

Above is 2 coats of Seabreeze. It photographed almost neon-like, but irl it is just a normal medium blue creme - very pretty. The first coat was streaky but all was fine with the 2nd.

I wanted to Summer it up a bit more though...

For the design I used Konad white. I'm not very good at konading, but I really like the way this turned out. I like how the butterflies look like they are flying towards each other on the ring and middle finger.

I only have 2 of the basic image plates that I got with my Konad kit. I would love to get a plate with full nail designs on, do you guys have any recommendations on any particularly good ones?

Saturday, 7 August 2010

Today I am showcasing you my only matte in my collection - Orly's Iron Butterfly. It is amazing! This is 2 coats with base coat. The makers of matte polishes say you shouldn't use a base coat, but I've heard from other bloggers that you will get staining if you don't. I love this colour - it is a charcoal black with silver shimmer. It dries pretty quickly so you have to work quickly when applying. This picture was taken this morning, but after I spent the morning (and afternoon) shopping I noticed that the matteness had started to become a bit more satiny rather than a real non-shine matte. This was slightly dissapointing as I had to reapply another coat to matte it up again!

Of course - I couldn't resist putting a high shine top coat on this afternoon...

...again, quite lovely!

I know the matte look is a bit like marmite - but what do you guys think about it?

Wednesday, 4 August 2010

I apologise that the last picture isn't too clear, but this is what the polish looks like most of the time. Wicked is definately up there in my top 10 favourite polishes of all time. Everything about it I love - the colour, the subtle but stunning shimmer, the bottle, the brush, the formula...I could go on. It is a vampy brown/black creme but with this sexy cherry/brown shimmer running through it. I love that it looks black, but when you get close it's like "whoa". This line of polishes from Avon is much better than the one I showed you on Monday. The nailwear pro's are much more professional, bigger, more user friendly bottles, perfect brush and formula. This is 2 coats with top and base and I think it looks really expensive.

I've just had a look on the Avon site and have found that their Nailwear Pros are half price - so only £3 a bottle!!! They have some really stunning colours too (loving the look of Vintage Blue and Green With Envy), although I can't see this one so maybe they've discontinued it?

Have a look if you fancy snapping up a bargain by clicking.......here!

Tuesday, 3 August 2010

My mum hates polish on her fingers, so I've started painting her toe nails once a week. Last night I picked out this little girl for her and loved it so much on her toes that I put it on for my mani :)

This polish is one of 3 colours of the Arabian Glow polishes - the others being a purple and a gold. Teal Infusion is a pretty, bright turquoise with a hidden, subtle green shimmer that only comes out in certain lighting.

Bottom label shot is because that hideous label takes up all of the bottle in the top picture. You can see here that the colour doesn't look different on the nail. I did 2 coats, but could have done with 3 as it is slightly patchy in places.

This is a stunning colour for summer and love it equally on toes and fingers. These are £6 for an 8ml bottle, but I got this when it was just released so think it was only about £3. I think it's a gorgeous polish, but there are bigger (size-wise) and better polishes out there for £6. Definately one to invest in if you see it on offer though (which they normally are).

That's all for today. Little Milly got spayed today so I'm going to go and give her lots of cuddles and affection.

Sunday, 1 August 2010

After a really nice week away, I am back home and have the Sunday blues :( It always happens doesn't it, that feeling of "I'm-going-to-jack-my-job-in-and-move-to-where-I-went-on-holiday!" Ah well.

I bought this colour in Devon on a make-up stand of a cosmetic company I've not heard of before - Miners. They have a website www.miners.co.uk and they describe this colour as "a washed out blue with light pink undertones, a perfect shade for the beach or to brighten up a natural, plain look." It is really pretty, but unfortunately not as blue on the nail than in the bottle. It looks almost like mother of pearl on the nail. I think maybe it would be better described as a subtle pink shimmer with a blue base. This is a makes a nice change for me, I normally wear quite saturated colours so this is quite refreshing. Above is 2 coats of Denim Shorts with top coat. Their other Spring/Summer colours are very pretty and remind me of the Zoya Reverie Collection with the different duochrome tones.